The Hands of the Many [Reiner]

[Rune]

It was, Kuno could admit to himself, pleasant to have Reiner so easily and comfortably make his obedience to him. While a part of him wanted that acknowledged obedience under different circumstances, it was at least soothed by what was already given.

The flirtatious wink, combined with their proximity stirred Kuno in ways that twisted his returning smile into something mildly predatory. When the question turned his mind away from the pretty face and back towards duty the expression expired and he leaned back a little, enough to get a clearer perspective on something other than his adorable subordinate.

"Mmm," He said, giving a small shake of his head, "No one in particular, it'll be just the eleven of us down there, counting you now, so I don't think, between us, we'll miss the signs."

He had been wrong about that before, watching a man go from seemingly jovial to holding his head and rocking in a corner in minutes, but, if he was frank, he didn't give a flat damn about the rest of the men assigned to his command. If all of them were to die succeeding at their mission, leaving him the single survivor to take the glory, that would be just fine with him. On most missions that was; on this particular one, if things went sideways, he wanted to be the one carrying Reiner out under his arm. The better to earn himself the recognition he deserved.

Having his group trained to his ways, knowing each other well enough to be an effective unit was better, in the long run, for his reputation than losing them, however, so he intended to do his best to keep their skins intact.

The shipboard bells clanged, letting them know they were approaching their destination, in a moment the sniper's fire would be heard taking down the enemy visible below, then they'd be down rope ladders and into the fray.

With an encouraging smile Kuno gripped Reiner's arm and said,

"Keeping to discipline is important, but these" He brushed against the rank insignia on his own shoulder, "mean nothing between us. We started the same and, for my part, we'll stay that way, however we each rise."

Pulling away his encouraging expression turned into the flash of a daring grin,

"Come on, lets see to these spawn so we can get to the drinking after."

By the time his boots hit the upper deck his Lieutenant's face was back on and he was issuing last minute orders to his men amid the crack of rifle fire. They were lined up ready to be lowered down in what seemed but a moment, then they were in the open air, clinging to their lifeline and watching below as creatures heads spattered to bits and they fell. It was like a set of gruesome flower girls were carpeting the ground in preparation for their arrival.

The courtyard was clear of anything that moved by the time they were close enough to drop, but every man pulled his rifle up into firing position as soon as they were steady. Kuno gave a nod to each of the other two commanders as they led their squads toward their breach points and then led the way towards his own.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

"Understood, sir..." Reiner replied, nodding sharply at Kuno's reply. He would soon feel the lieutenant's hand clasp his arm, and hear a surprising expression of humility. It could be hard to tell when Kuno was joking and his sense of humor had a sharp edge, so he more expected expressions of arrogance than modesty from the lieutenant. Even if they were delivered through a smirk that seemed jovial enough for one to laugh it off. There was certainly plausible deniability that it had been conceit at all, as opposed to playful riposte. This, however, didn't seem like a jest so Reiner received it with some relief.

"Glad to hear you're not too big for your britches, yet." They were still both boys from the slums, at the end of the day. It was increasingly easy to forget as much in contemporary Zaichaer. Almost everything was a slum on the ground, and their regular lodgings were in ivory towers on high.

The thunder of rifle fire underscored their trip back out onto the deck, and Reiner returned to his place among Kuno's regular subordinates. The private would check his ammo one last time, and steel himself to rappel down. He was better about heights now that he lived in the sky, but there were some things that were harder to get used to and this certainly wasn't a regular sort of day in the life of Reiner Dornkirk.

He took stock of what he could from the present vantage and awaited the order to descend toward the drop zone, which seemed to have been cleared of immediate danger by the deft sniper fire of the ZADC. Still, he would look sharp and keep scanning entryways or obscured areas until it was time to make the leap.

[Rune]

Once on the ground the men fell into formation, watching doorways, corners and the ceiling, like he'd taught them. It was odd to him that most men had to have it drilled or beaten into them to look up. In a nation that was famous for its airships, you'd think people would at least glance at the skies now and then. Now that the mists had spawned, gods only knew what all type of twisted creatures, they could come from anywhere, any time.

Kuno had managed to scream at this group enough (and then convince them over drinks that he did it to protect them) that they swiveled their attention as instructed. The first hallway was lit by windows, though they were small, but deeper in the solid brick building the light faded. The lit ones were empty of all but a few mice and bits of burned debris that must have blown in after the glass in the windows broke. As soon as the squad turned down a fully dark passage Kuno called for silence. Pulling a flare from the front of his jacket he snapped it and tossed it down the way they were heading, toward the headquarters. The bright red light filled the narrow space and lent it an eeriness that was really unnecessary under the circumstances.

With a nod for Reiner to follow Kuno took the lead, step by careful step into the almost-silence. The occasional distant sniper shot could be heard from the courtyard, and the wind moving through the building made sounds that could have been any number of other things, but weren't. A soldier developed instincts for what sounds they needed to be worried about and which ones were harmless, as did a child raised on the streets. If Kuno hadn't been one of those two at any given point in his life, he'd been the other, so, as they turned the last corner and he threw another flare, revealing the doorway to the headquarters complex section, he knew that the scuffling coming up behind his men was anything but harmless.

The problem was, as soon as the red glow hit the door to their destination he could see that the roof had partly fallen in just in front of it. Several large pieces of stonework blocked the door, which still appeared intact.

"Scheisse!" He swore, mostly under his breath as he called out a set of commands for his men to form up facing whatever was coming after them, rifles at the ready. As his men fell into their position and almost immediately began to fire he didn't even look to see what they were shooting. Turning to Reiner he said,

"We've got to get that rubble cleared so we can retreat if we need to!" Not waiting for any conversation he sprinted the space between his men and the rubble, squatting down he threw the first of the stones without too much trouble, grabbing at a few smaller ones before moving on to the largest. It was far too large to move by himself, worryingly large for even the two of them but the fact that the discharge of the squad's rifles had not slowed spoke volumes.

"Come on, we can get it!" He half encouraged, half commanded the private as he got in position to heave with all his might.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

PFC Dornkirk was not a regular member of this band of brothers, and he knew it. Once again he was relegated to the role of cousin, after a fashion, as he strove to keep up in line with their well-oiled machine and not hinder it. He wanted to accomplish this for a number of reasons- Foremost, of course, was the efficient success he sought for the mission. Then there was the social element and his desire to satisfy, or ideally impress, Lieutenant Kämpfer and his men.

Reiner bent his knees and his grip on his rifle tightened as darkness lay ahead. He was poised to move when Kuno set off the flare and cast it into the darkness. After a few moments, when nothing moved but the dancing red light, his posture relaxed, if only slightly. He took cautious, quiet steps when he was bidden to follow Kuno.

By and by, they reached the blocked passage and he winced at his commanding officer's hissed expletive. He shared the sentiment, though he didn't verbalize as much.

"Jawohl!" He barked in response to his direct instructions and rushed forward to crouch at Kuno's side, beginning to dig away at the rocks, dirtying his pale palms a charcoal grey within a matter of moments. When urged by the lieutenant to help him with the larger stone, Reiner grimaced at the sight of it. This wasn't the sort of foe he'd come to vie with, but he did worry that they might have met their match. There were enough men to help if they couldn't do the deed as a duo, but he sincerely hoped he could impress Kuno and his men by rising to the occasion. He took a deep breath and waited for Kuno's order.

[Rune]

Once the Private was in place the Lieutenant took a deep breath and then heaved. The strain of putting his weight and muscle against something that weighed many times what he did could be felt all through his body but he didn't let that stop him. Forcing the air from his lungs in one great huff of a growl his effort, combined with that of Reiner, managed to roll lift the great mass just high enough to roll it out of the way of the door.

The organized retreat of firing men reached them only a moment after and, as he looked up, Kuno could see the milling mass of mistspawn, that the retort of his men's rifles was barely keeping back. 'Mass' was accurate as, even with the bright light of the flare filling the hallway, it was impossible to tell the bodies apart. In a sickening moment he realized that they were all one body, or perhaps several large masses of them. Even in the face of that the men were keeping their nerve, stepping back in three ordered rows, not breaking.

Taking this all in in one brief look their officer turned to the metal-reinforced door. Finding the latch still intact he opened it, glancing around the interior long enough to ensure there were no obvious dangers before snapping out a crisp,

"All inside, quick now!"

When Reiner joined him he said,

"Be ready to get this door closed." Positioning himself to slam the heavy bastard of a portal the moment his men were all through, knowing the beasts would be directly after them. "Should hold them once it's closed, was designed to hold against assaults."

Shifting his weight against the door but not exerting it he felt something pull, low down in his middle something was wrong but he hadn't the time to check it. Perhaps the piece of fallen roof had been too much but there weren't a lot of choices when you were under threat and out of time. Looking over at Reiner in concern he raised one brow, speaking quietly enough that no one else would be able to hear among the racket of bullets.

"You good, soldier?"

And the thing was, Reiner too could feel a blossom of pained muscle growing from a similar, if opposite area. When they had stood with the boulder there had been a tearing sensation, terrifying but, in the moment, not overly painful. But now, as the first man of the rest of the squad slid through the opening they held, followed immediately by a stream of the rest, it was beginning to ache.

As the last man slipped through, blood spattering his face and chest Kuno looked away from his friend and shoved with all his might. As predicted, a monstrous, purplish hand shot through, followed by a head. Both were sort of leaking, or dripping, covered in some sort of slime. The scent immediately made Kuno gag and between shoving and gagging something popped in his groin. Swearing and growling in pain enough to make his eyes water he yelled,

"GET BACK HERE AND HELP US YOU BASTARDS!" Smokestack accent returning in full force.

The rest of the soldiers, realizing they weren't yet safe, piled in behind Kuno and Reiner, the weight of their bodies alone was enough to slam the door fully shut. The pieces of mistspawn that had poked through were neatly snipped off and fell, wetly, to the floor with little plops.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner took Kuno’s inward breath as a cue to take his own preparatory inspiration. The lieutenant’s rising shoulders would be as a conductor’s baton, and the private knew to heave when his superior officer heaved. The weight was greater than he’d anticipated… greater than anything he’d ever successfully lifted. The lean, young muscle was honed more for endurance than heft, and he felt the tension stiffening his neck which quickly transitioned from pale to pink to red to purple as he gritted his teeth, braced and lifted with all his might.

By the time the boulder finally tipped far enough to roll itself the rest of the way clear, Reiner felt as though he’d used every ounce of energy available to him. His arms fell slack and the next time he tried to lift them, they felt light as balloons but somehow even that was too great a weight to lift. He flexed his fingers, inspecting them with curious eyes as Kuno peered ahead to assess the threat level of the corridor ahead.

Reiner dropped his hands and lifted his eyes as Kuno barked instructions, which he leapt to obey. He winced as he put his shoulder to the door, but shook his head dismissively in response to the lieutenant’s check-in. Whatever was wrong wasn’t as bad as whatever would transpire it they failed to shut this door in time.

As Kuno shouted for the others to aid them, Reiner would feel a strange burst of alien energy surge through him. Glancing wide-eyed to the typically steely gaze of his current commanding officer, was it a trick of the light or did his eyes fade back to blue from a lunar pallor? The other men also seemed energized by what they would likely surmise to be adrenaline. Kuno alone would see the signs of what was truly in play.

An incorporeal, glowing silver manacle rounded his wrist and from that ætheric ring, the chains of command extended to each of his subordinates. To Kuno’s eyes, each of their necks was bound by a collar just like the cuff at his own wrist. His words seemed to pull them forth and their strength was enhanced by their subservience to Kuno.

Here in the rubble of his fatherland, Midnight’s Mother was expressing interest in the fate of one of her unlikeliest, and thus most cherished, adherents.

By the time the door slammed shut and severed the offending limbs of potential assailants, Reiner slumped against the door. Collapsing onto the floor, arms numb in his lap, he looked to Kuno with a guileless albeit weak smile. If he’d detected anything out of the ordinary, it seemed to have been rationalized away or forgotten in the midst of his adrenaline burst.

“Fuck me.” He rasped, and laughed despite the pain and weakness, because that momentary release felt like the most important thing in the world in that moment.

[Rune]

The pain that had flared in the muscles low in his abdomen threatened to overtake his determination to continue something else pushed in to fill him instead. It wasn't heat, nor was it cold, exactly; it felt, for all the world, like chill light was sufficing his being though even the thought made no sense. Regardless of how it felt, what he no longer felt was any discomfort. In fact, he felt better than he could ever remember having felt. Of course he was in charge, of course he could lead this slack-jawed bunch to victory. To domination.

Running a quick hand through his hair he turned and found that his men seemed to be feeling whatever he was as well. None of them were learning against walls of furniture, there was no panting or fearfully wide eyes. They looked ready, fit for the challenge. Kuno had trained them well and they would be hands to his will. He could see the faint glowing chains leading from his own commanding right hand to the necks of his soldiers. His soldiers. Where the power came from he had no doubt, his faith was faultless. Sacrifices would need to be made, a price to be paid for the honor being shown his devotion. It was his due, of course, but for it he owned Her due and he would not let Her down.

"Right then." He said, catching up his rifle from where he'd tossed it into the room when he'd had to move the fallen roof boulder. "Slip into groups of three and check each of the rooms." There were three adjacent according to the map he'd studied and he raised his empty hand to point them out even as the men moved to follow his command. While they were sweeping he turned to Reiner,

"Alright?" He dropped his hand onto the shorter man's shoulder, knowing that he would let the others all die if it meant he could keep his collar around Reiner's pale, pretty throat. The exclamation earlier had not gone unnoticed and though he knew it had meant nothing to the youngest Dornkirk, just then, flush with power, Kuno would have given almost as much to indulge the urge.

When he was assured that Reiner was at least not going to perish on him he turned to his returning squad. The other rooms of the Commander's suite, it seemed, were clear of any danger. He answered the reports with a distinct nod and then gave new orders.

"This is our base of operations until the additional units arrive. For that to happen we have to get work to the waiting ships above that we have secured our objective. There is a trap door in the ceiling that leads to the ramparts, we'll need to get it open, find the ladder, or improvise if it is gone and signal to the Gambit."

That the ramparts themselves might have enemies wasn't out of the question, but at least the ships above would be able to offer some covering fire if there were. Clipping off orders the men got to work, some clearing the area to be used as a temporary barracks and others searching for the hidden trap door.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner set his jaw and pursed his lips. Having loosed a bit of laughter to vent the pent up tension, he felt obliged to return to acknowledging the gravitas of the moment. It was a delicate balance to keep oneself relaxed enough to think clearly, but tense enough to react quickly... like dancing on the edge of a well-sharpened knife.

At first the private was uncertain whether the lieutenant's order included him. In fact it felt safest to assume it did, and so he started to move, before Kuno's hand landed on his shoulder and he was singled out. He nodded, and planted himself where he was to listen to further instruction. Considering Lieutenant Kämpfer's priorities, he decided a good course of action would be to try an ascertain what function this section of the base had when it was operational. From there, they might glean where utility supplies like ladders might be housed. Though Reiner wasn't familiar with this particular base, he knew its like well enough and the Zaichaeri military was nothing if not efficient. And efficiency meant that many of their buildings were situated similarly enough to create a sort of shorthand for the soldiers occupying them.

He scanned the surroundings for clues. The room was large, but there were no bunks nor the frames thereof so it probably hadn't quartered soldiers. There were broken tables... the moveable sort, not the big sturdy kind where war maps were laid. And they were small and too copious, but not so plentiful as one might find in a mess hall, unless...

"This was the officer's dining hall. So, there should be a utility closet somewhere between here and the general mess..." He said, looking to Kuno sharply with wide eyes ostensibly eager for approval.

[Rune]

The lieutenant snapped his fingers in recognition as his favorite private pointed out what became immediately obvious once it was said.

"You're right! Excellent observation, Private First Class Dornkirk." When the first of the groups exploring returned a moment later he told them where to look for the ladder. Once they had trooped off again he turned back to Reiner,

"If this is the officer's mess, that means that door," He leaned his head to one side rather than pointing, "Contains the messenger station. Most likely there won't be anything in there we don't already know, but, on the off chance that there is something useful to the cause, why don't you pop in and do a quick read-through?"

Reiner handled missives for the Minister, which occasionally involved reading important papers and might give him an edge on at least recognizing if something was useful. The Fort had held longer than any other part of the city, with the exception of The Windworks and maybe some filthy Coven hide-holes.

The pair walked over together, rifles at the ready just in case, but when they thrust their way in all they found was an empty chamber with several desks neatly stacked with paperwork, some of which appeared to have been chewed by small rodents.

"Hm." Was Kuno's comment, as he left the younger man to his assignment, "Not the most exciting, but see what you can ferret out. Might get lucky and find the secret that will save us all, eh?"

Heading back out he found the rest of his men returned and a ladder being propped against the ceiling where it was most likely the trap door might be. While it was hidden, this was Zaichaer and there would be a logic to it.

The afternoon passed in a gathering of what supplies they could find in the adjacent kitchen, miraculously almost untouched, the setting up of places to sleep and generally hunkering in. Messages were signaled between the tiny base of operations and the ships above on a schedule and there was never a time when both the door into the main hallway, as well as the wall walk above were not guarded. The position seemed stable but a soldier knew better than to be too far from his firearm when behind enemy lines.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner smiled in self-satisfaction as his deduction was praised by his commanding officer, though it wasn’t smug. If anything he looked pleasantly surprised by the compliment.

“Aye, sir.” He started in that direction and found Kuno striding alongside him. He absently rolled one shoulder, which still felt sore and off since the heavy lifting earlier.

Stepping into the dimly lit comm station, he would cast light onto the desk and regard the documents stacked on its surface. He took a seat and drew a folder closer, opening it to find the first page was smudged with what appeared to be blood, but no… it wasn’t smudged, was it? It was a scrawling. He grimaced as he tried to make out the meaning:

“All is lost. I bled me before they could.” He recited aloud, carefully sliding that page to the side and to find what lay beneath was typewritten in ink.

“The office of Undersecretary Albrecht.” Kuno would feel a certain gravitas associated with that name. ‘Mark this’ She seemed to whisper. Reiner, for his part, just wrinkled his nose.

“That was the creature the First Minister promoted to appease the subhumans for the war effort…” He editorialized. “It’s timestamped a few minutes after Breachfall. “First Minister Dornkirk missing. Undersecretary Albrecht missing. Officials being evacuated from Presidium. Requesting orders.” Reiner read aloud, glancing over his shoulder to Kuno.

“I’ll collect anything that may be of interest to the provisional government.” He said, as he leaned over to sift deeper into the stack of documents. Within a few hours he had three piles. One for refuse, one for potentially useful information and one for definitely useful Intel.